Tonight's game is a test for 49ers fans, owners

Published 3:19 pm, Friday, August 26, 2011

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

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A police officers investigate the scene of a shooting just outside of lot L at Candlestick Park, where the San Francisco 49ers had just finished playing the Oakland Raiders in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday August 20, 2011. less

A police officers investigate the scene of a shooting just outside of lot L at Candlestick Park, where the San Francisco 49ers had just finished playing the Oakland Raiders in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday ... more

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

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Police were busy controlling the crowd throughout the game as the San Francisco 49ers played the Oakland Raiders in preseason action at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday August 20, 2011.

Police were busy controlling the crowd throughout the game as the San Francisco 49ers played the Oakland Raiders in preseason action at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday August 20, 2011.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Tonight's game is a test for 49ers fans, owners

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San Francisco -- Tonight San Franciscans, particularly football fans, will face a critical test at the 49ers game. Can the mood in the stadium be returned to a civil, family event, or will there be more of the drunken brawl from last weekend where two people were shot and another was beaten so badly he was hospitalized?

If you ask longtime 49ers fans, what happened last week wasn't surprising; it was just the usual intoxicated atmosphere, taken to a new level. The PR-conscious National Football League is taking this seriously. Jeffrey Miller, head of NFL security, flew out from New York Friday.

The unfortunate truth is that the NFL - including the 49ers - has a problem in the stands. In the last five or six years, there's been a change in tone in stadiums, an increase in drunken belligerence, and an exodus of longtime fans.

Joan Herriges of San Rafael held season tickets with her husband for 38 years before opting out.

"We sat in Upper Box, Section 1, enjoying a family atmosphere until about six years ago," she said. "Longtime season ticket holders began to drop out ... other season ticket holders sold their seats on the secondary market. Those seats filled with the same type of fan you saw in the brawl last Saturday night. Boorish and drunken behavior, foul language, etc."

Anyone who has been to a 49ers game has seen it. There are still the loyalists, but also people who are falling down drunk. Ask the belligerent jerks to tone down the language and you risk a fistfight.

This isn't only an issue for 49ers ownership. The stadium is owned and operated by the city. And San Francisco's problems are exacerbated because we're expecting fans to come to a dated relic.

Fans see little change

Although ticket prices continue to rise, fans complain that not much has changed in the 51 years since Vice President Richard Nixon called it the "finest ballpark in America," at the dedication. If city officials were brutally honest, they'd probably admit they don't see much point in improving the experience for the paying customers because the team plans to flee to a new stadium in Santa Clara.

"I think the city views it as a facility on life support," said former 49ers President Carmen Policy, who says the result is clear. "We are not getting the best clientele. We used to get the best."

It isn't as if the NFL doesn't think there is a problem. In 2008, Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a Fan Code of Conduct. It is essentially an admission of appalling behavior.

The code would ban: "unruly, disruptive, or illegal behavior ... intoxication that results in irresponsible behavior ... foul or abusive language ... verbal or physical harassment of opposing team fans."

How is that working out? Ask Steven Currier, who spent more than $2,000 this year on the season tickets he's held since 1989.

"For the last five or six years, every single game there has been an incident. Every single game," said Currier, who is talking about regular season games, not just exhibitions. "You know who's got the tickets now? These thugs. They are 21, 22, 23 years old and they have no relationship to the 49ers. They cause all these fights."

Police Chief Greg Suhr says the violence is just part of the "ebb and flow." When the team was winning Super Bowls, he says, "It was the old wine and cheese crowd. They left in the third quarter because the game was already won and had one last glass of port."

Having to leave early

They're still leaving in the third quarter. Season ticket holder Lynn Thompson gave two tickets to last year's regular season game with the Raiders to her son-in-law and 6-year-old grandson.

"There were fights in the adjoining section, and my grandson said he was so scared they left in the third quarter," she said.

I don't remember news reports about how terrible things were at that game. Currier, who has watched season ticket holders in his section pack up and leave, doubts they'll ever be back.

But he does have a suggestion for 49ers ownership and city officials.

"Maybe if you get out of your luxury box, you can see what's happening in the stands," he said.

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